The Book and Her Shelf
by The Awesome Auliya
Summary: One day, Madeline was out hunting for her prized red leaves when a collision causes her to meet the somewhat mysterious author Julchen. They navigate the tough waters of a modern relationship.


_Oh! Another one! Over there! That one has a glorious colour to it… the shade is almost perfect._

Madeline Williams lightly jogged over to where a leaf sat, softly fluttering against a drain cover along the sidewalk to her apartment on a fall afternoon. She had just gotten off of work at the library when she spotted a red leaf. The crimson foliage attracted her, and she just had to gather more to add to her collection. The first leaf led her on to find the next one, and the next one. She currently had about ten leaves that she really liked. When she got to her flat she would have to go over them to pick the best one. Madeline had an ever growing and changing wreath on her door, and she would add one leaf to the ring everyday. She didn't know where her little tradition came from, but she obeyed it regardless.

She bent down to pick it up, giggling a bit at the ants wandering about and trying to find some last bits of food before winter's icy grip descended. Madeline saw one more leaf across the road.

It was _perfect_.

She looked around, seeing that she was basically alone. No cars were coming, few people except for her seemed to exist. Needless to say, she was in heaven. The weather was magnificent, birds sang faintly, her favorite songs were playing softly into her ears, the leaves were red… beautiful, beautiful reds…

She decided to cross the road after deeming it safe enough to cross. The leaf was on the lane furthest from her, poking up at her and gesturing for her to come closer in a playful manner. She began to walk across the way, continuing to look about. When Madeline reached her prize, she scooped it up and turned around to head home.

Unfortunately, fate had other plans. A car driving at unlawful speeds came swerving around the curve. Madeline began to run as fast as her legs could carry her and her big red coat across the black asphalt. As she reached the curb, she felt someone bang into her side and effectively knock her to the ground which made her lose her collection.

"Damn!"

That hurt. Julchen Beilschmidt had been strolling to her favorite coffee place when all of the sudden, some bozo comes out of nowhere and runs into her. All she wanted was a latte to cure some writer's block and she gets bulldozed. Just great.

"What the hell, dude? That hurt!" She dusted her black skinny jeans off, praying that there were no holes in them. Julchen saw movement out of the corner of her eye and figured she should probably be at least civil to her aggressor.

She looked up, and she saw an angel.

"S-Sorry… I didn't see you… That car was… Are you alright?"

This angel had a meek tone, but goodness was she cute. Julchen was taken aback by the girl's words. Julchen very clearly had run into her, and _she_ was the one apologizing? Julchen should be bowing down to this girl, this innocent beauty.

"Oh, no! You're not responding. Do you have a concussion? How many fingers am I holding up? Do you need to sit down? There is a cafe near here, we could go there if you would like."

It took Julchen a second or two to grasp the fact that words were being thrown at her, jarring her from her thoughts.

"I, uh…" Wait, if she said that she didn't feel well, the girl would stay and escort her to the cafe. "Ow. M-My head… Actually, would you escort me to the cafe? I think that- that a latte and a cute date would help a lot." Aw, yes! This is a double score! A super cutie drinking coffee with her? Awesome. Julchen decided then and there this girl was Awesome. Unless she was, like, a psycho murderer or something. Then she was obviously unawesome.

"Um, okay." The girl blushed a bit and tucked her hair behind her ear. She was holding onto a leaf for some reason.

"I'm Julchen, also known as the Awesome One. Does a cutie like you have a name?"

More blush creeped across her face.

"Madeline."

Wait. Did- Did this Julchen just call her… cute? This is… odd. It was not that she had never been called that, she had had a boyfriend and a girlfriend years prior. They had just not been the best of relationships. And they had also been a long time ago. Like, highschool.

Also, it was apparent that Julchen did _not_ , in fact, have a concussion. Madeline wouldn't mind some company, though. Plus, she could get a hot chocolate.

"So, um… what's the deal with the leaves?" Julchen asked when they began walking, noticing that Madeline still had her perfect leaf in tow. Well, she was observant. And to the point. She was really pretty, too. With her long silvery hair and those knowing burgundy eyes. They began walking to the cafe as they conversed.

"I just really like red leaves. I don't want to bore you, though…" Both parts were equally true, though Madeline really did want to talk about her quirk.

"You won't. I'm having writer's block, so conversation with an actual living person might help." Julchen looked at her and smiled.

She warned her.

"So basically, I just think that the colour is really pretty. At my house I have this wreath…"

Julchen listened to her speak about her leaves patiently. It was actually not as boring as she thought. Plus, Maddie was _super_ cute. It had been a long time since she had a quality conversation with a person outside her family. Her family was also not the most supportive as they come. On the off chance that they did support her relationships, they didn't support her writing for a living. Or they were strangers and lived back in Germany. Most of them hardly even knew her! Damn. She really didn't want to think about them.

Maddie was enthralled with her leaves, waving her arms about with a passionate expression on her face. Her voice may have been meek upon their meeting, but it certainly had an underlying spark of steel as she spoke about her quirk and some of her past. Her voice was a gift from the gods, as it was so soft and sweet. Julchen was attentive, listening and occasionally letting out sounds of agreement or inquiry. When Maddie began to talk about her twin brother, Matt, Julchen responded with tales of her own younger sister, Monika. A lively chat sparked between them as they arrived at their destination.

Once they reached the counter, the barista asked what they wanted to have and they both ordered their drinks. Paying for them separately, of course. This wasn't a date… was it?

Madeline shook her head slightly at that thought, her face turning a soft shade of pink. Julchen looked at her, mildly concerned by her company's sudden silence at the question she asked.

"Maddie… are you alright?"

Shaking herself out of her thoughts once more, Madeline responded with a soft ' _yeah_ '.

"Hey, um… is this a-"

"Latte for Awesome and a hot chocolate for Madness. What kinda names are these?" The barista called out their orders and, to Madeline's dismay, Julchen held up a finger and left the booth to fetch their beverages.

Madeline wondered to herself if this was indeed a date. That wouldn't be so bad, would it? Because, like, she hasn't really been with someone she actually liked… The last two were just pity dates. They confessed to her that they had feelings, and she didn't feel anything but guilt and confusion. So she said yes to them out of what felt like obligation. She ended up breaking both of the relationships off after about a month or two. Feeling freedom as she walked away.

She was mean.

But this Julchen seemed like she could be interesting. She was the object of Madeline's stare as she walked back. She was wearing a sort of black suit, black skinny jeans that hugged her legs in all the right places, and she had thick black glasses on. A product of her career no doubt. Madeline had a similar issue with her eyes. Her family all had relatively bad vision, but her late night reading and working at the library made it much worse. It was so bad that she could only see up to a foot in front of her face.

Julchen returned to the table, and, handing Maddie the hot chocolate, she asked about what Maddie was going to say.

"Well… I was wondering if this is a date…"

Julchen was taken aback at the statement. Was this a date?

"I don't know if this counts as a date, but how about we go on one? Let's say… Friday? For dinner? I'll pick you up at seven. Sound alright?" Julchen winked at her in hopes that it would help her get a positive response. And a dinner date. A cute one.

"Um…" Maddie blushed a bit before saying, "S-Sure! I don't see why we… why we couldn't go out for dinner. Where are we going?" That was a bit of a shock. She actually said yes! Julchen's got a dinner date! Julchen's got a dinner date!

Wait… where _were_ they going to eat?

"It's a surprise." She stood, extending her hand in an offer of helping Maddie up.

She took the hand, her face turning red once more.


End file.
